Anybody Make Forge Charcoal?

[Daniel Fairly Knives]

I have been watching Japanese blacksmith videos and noticed they usually burn charcoal.

I think it would be cool to build a forge and use charcoal, I have always used gas. I have all the mesquite I can cut here and it has great heat value.

Has anyone here done this? I'm learning more about it now but thought it woud be interesting to ask.

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

You can build a charcoal retort oven from old 55-galon drums.

here is one of hundreds of online tutorials:

Making Your Own Lump Charcoal - Backdoor Survival

Charcoal making can be an easy process! Master it today by going through our comprehensive, step-by-step guide to put this skill in your back pocket.

www.backdoorsurvival.com

 

[DanF]

I started out using coal and loved it, but it was hard to get in my area and became super expensive.
So, I put together a 55 gal drum retort oven as Stacy mentioned. Used that for roughly 2years or so and liked it a lot. Whenever I get tired of the same old same old process with the heat treat oven or gas forge I’ll fire up the barrel and make enough for a couple knives to stay connected to my roots.
It IS great fun

 

[Daniel Fairly Knives]

You can build a charcoal retort oven from old 55-galon drums.

here is one of hundreds of online tutorials:

Making Your Own Lump Charcoal - Backdoor Survival

Charcoal making can be an easy process! Master it today by going through our comprehensive, step-by-step guide to put this skill in your back pocket.

www.backdoorsurvival.com

Thanks! That's what I was planning, I just wanted to see what people thought about it.

I was reading about bio-char making and they do it differently than the charcoal tutorials so I might try both.

 

[Daniel Fairly Knives]

I started out using coal and loved it, but it was hard to get in my area and became super expensive.
So, I put together a 55 gal drum retort oven as Stacy mentioned. Used that for roughly 2years or so and liked it a lot. Whenever I get tired of the same old same old process with the heat treat oven or gas forge I’ll fire up the barrel and make enough for a couple knives to stay connected to my roots.
It IS great fun

Yeah I can probably mine coal in CO from some seams I know of... and there is actally a nearby coal mine here in central TX. I like the idea of just doing it here on my property.

Nice! I think that is what I will do, there are plenty drums nearby on marketplace... sounds safer that way. 55 gallons should run the forge for a fair bit too. I have an Atlas forge for smaller to somewhat big stuff but want to use the charcoal for heat treating swords.

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Al coal isn't forging coal. You need low sulfur, low ash, bituminous coal. Preferable, Pocahontas #3.

 

[Daniel Fairly Knives]

Al coal isn't forging coal. You need low sulfur, low ash, bituminous coal. Preferable, Pocahontas #3.

The stuff I can get in CO is nice and clean, no clue about the geology nearby though. I used to make my living mining lapidary materials. I'm still just going to use charcoal, easy to source and I am not doing a lot of sword forging, just want to be able to.